iPhone 4 available on Verizon CDMA network February 10

In less than one month, United States residents who has been clamoring for an iPhone on Verizon network will have their dream fulfilled. In a joint announcement today, Verizon and Apple announced that iPhone 4 will be available on Verizon network on February 10, ending the network exclusivity held by AT&T since the first iphone on June 29, 2007. Verizon is the largest mobile carrier in US and many has the impression that it has a better network than AT&T. Here is the summary about the iPhone 4 on Verizon:

The iPhone will run on Verizon’s CDMA network, Verizon 3G (EV-DO), and not the latest LTE.

It does not run on GSM network and does not support GSM roaming when overseas.

It does not support simultaneous voice and data as wth GSM due to CDMA limitation.

You can use the new CDMA iPhone to provide mobile WiFi connection for up to five devices by using a preinstalled Verizon 3G Mobile Hotspot app. Pricing for this mobile hotspot service is not announced.

The antenna on the phone is redesigned due to CDMA, other than that the interior is identical to the GSM version. The external antenna band has one more notch compared with GSM version.

The buttons are slightly relocated thus existing iPhone 4 cases will not work.

Price is $200 for 16G model with 2 year contract, and $300 for 32G version with 2 year contract.

The CDMA version of iPhone is not exclusive to Verizon, which means other countries with CDMA network such as China might get it.